Federal High Court cites Supreme Court ruling, declares Abure’s tenure expired and affirms Nenadi Usman as legitimate leader of the Labour Party pending a national convention.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has formally removed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), bringing an end to months of leadership uncertainty within the opposition party.

In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, Justice Peter Lifu directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately recognise the Labour Party’s Caretaker Committee led by former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, as the party’s lawful leadership until a national convention is convened.

Justice Lifu anchored his decision on a landmark Supreme Court judgment delivered on April 4, 2025, which affirmed Senator Usman as the legitimate head of the Labour Party’s caretaker structure. The court held that Julius Abure’s tenure as national chairman had elapsed and could no longer be sustained in law.

The suit, marked THC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, was instituted by Senator Usman, with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) listed as a co-defendant. In his ruling, Justice Lifu dismissed Abure’s claim that the matter was purely an internal party affair, stressing that the formation of the caretaker committee was a direct consequence of the Supreme Court’s binding directive.

The court further upheld the decision of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), which had earlier dissolved Abure’s leadership and constituted a 29-member caretaker committee chaired by Senator Usman following a prolonged leadership crisis.

That decision was taken at a high-level stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, Abia State, convened by Governor Alex Otti and attended by key party figures, including former presidential candidate Peter Obi, who had previously been aligned with Abure.

Dissatisfied with his removal, Abure had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking judicial validation of his position. In an affidavit supporting suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, he claimed he was lawfully elected Acting National Chairman at a NEC meeting in Benin City on March 29, 2021, following the death of the party’s former chairman.

Abure further argued that a NEC meeting held in Asaba on April 18, 2023, renewed the tenures of state chairmen, expelled members accused of anti-party activities, and paved the way for the party’s national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, on March 27, 2024, where he emerged as National Chairman.

He also cited his role in overseeing the nomination of Labour Party candidates for the Edo and Ondo governorship elections as proof of his legitimacy.

While both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal initially ruled in Abure’s favour and ordered INEC to recognise him, the Supreme Court overturned those decisions. In a judgment authored by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court upheld the appeal filed by the caretaker committee’s Chairman and Secretary, Senator Nenadi Usman and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha, and dismissed Abure’s cross-appeal in its entirety.

The Supreme Court admonished political parties to strictly comply with their constitutions and internal regulations in appointing officers, adding that officials whose tenures have expired must vacate office without delay.

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